


Collision

by lesbianbatgirl



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Book/Movie Fusion, Amnesia, Friendship, Gen, Kylo Ren is a punk bitch, Parallel Universes, Psychic Bond, That's Not How The Force Works, as a general concept, psychic torture, there's a lot of psychic stuff going on rn, will add more tags as chapters go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2018-10-07 13:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10361169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianbatgirl/pseuds/lesbianbatgirl
Summary: An amnesic Ben awakens as a prisoner aboard an unfamiliar ship in an unfamiliar time and place. He befriends a fellow captive through the force, who tries to help him remember who he is. But as he starts flashing back to his life before, it soon becomes apparent that the galaxy he woke up in is vastly different from the one in his fragmented memories.OR: I just want the old EU kids to interact with the new canon kids in a way that could theoretically be canonical.





	1. Awake

It’s cold, enough that when he’s fully conscious an involuntary shudder wracks his body. He’s certain he could see his breath, but his eyes are closed and it’s too dark to-- He blinks. His eyes  _ aren’t _ closed. It’s just pitch black, all around him. He raises a hand in front of his face and waves it, but there’s nothing. So he’s either blind or--

There’s metal against his back, under his feet. He shifts, uncertain whether he’s standing up or lying down or which way is up. When he reaches his arms outward, he can feel more metal before he’s even fully extended it. He reaches up and there’s metal again, this time just a few centimeters over.

Not blind. Just trapped within a metal box. He drags his hands down across the walls as far as he can, but there’s no dip in the metal, no sign of a door or  any way out. 

He breathes out, slowly, trying to keep steady.  _ Think. Breathe. Don’t panic. Think. Breathe. Don’t panic. Think. Breathe. Don’t panic.  _

He loses himself in the mantra, focusing on steady breaths and coherent thought. There’s many questions, but he filters down to the most important ones.

_ How do I get out? _

_ Why am I here? _

The first question remains unanswerable at the moment, so he pushes it aside to focus on the second. But when he tries to recall any previous events that might have led up to him being captured or perhaps smuggled away, he finds he can’t remember. Anything.

This fact almost sends him spiraling back into panic, but he shakes himself.

So perhaps the more important question now becomes  _ Who am I? _

And again, for a long moment, there’s nothing.

But then:  _ Ben. _

The name supplies itself without any real effort and he’s not sure if his memories are coming back or if he’s just managed to cling onto this one thing.

When he tries to remember a last name, or family, it’s simply an empty space.  No memories, no matter how hard he tries. Any personal history is missing.

But he knows basic things. He could pilot a ship, he’s fairly sure. Repair a droid, shoot a blaster, make a meal. But the people who taught him these things are simply missing, no matter how hard he tries to remember them.

Ben carefully lets himself slide down the panel to sit on the floor, cross-legged. He closes his eyes, not that it matters that much, and then finds himself reaching out into the Force, trying to make sense of the world beyond his prison. The action feels automatic to him, second nature. Maybe he should question it more, but he doesn’t. It’s comforting and--

He can feel someone else nearby. Not his captor, but someone scared like him. Soft and brave. Ben reaches out, nudging the other mind gently. A silent  _ I’m here too! _

There’s a beat.

The other presence throws him back, angry and startled emotions swirling. But before Ben’s completely slipped away, the presence stops. Then probes back, questioningly.

Ben meets in kind, trying to emanate solidarity and  _ I’m like you.  _  They’re both captives. And if they can just make a connection, keep each other company, maybe they can figure out a way to escape. Or just keep each other from going mad in the isolation.

Whatever happens, Ben wants to not be alone for it.

The other presence acknowledges, slowly, and the mental walls fall away and let Ben in.

_ Who are you?  _ the question isn’t quite the words themselves, but Ben gets the gist.

He tries to imagine an image of himself, but he realizes now that he can’t remember his own face. So all he can offer is confusion.

Which is responded to with more confusion.

And for a solid minute it’s just sharing back and forth a general exasperation at the limitations of their communication. Planning an escape with purely feelings is going to be nigh-impossible. Sending actual word isn’t within his knowledge of the force. General sentiments can be delivered, and maybe images, if he tries hard enough.

But he’s not sure he has any clear memories or images to send. He tries to think up something, anything he can latch onto. And then suddenly he remembers her, clear as day.

_ Mara. _ Dark red hair spilling around her shoulders, leaning over to kiss him on the forehead, radiating warmth and love and comfort.

His mother.

Ben tries to push the image outward, hoping it’ll make it over. It’s something, maybe a start. If the other presence can conjure images and actually has a working memory, maybe Ben can figure out what’s going on or remember something else.

Ben waits to see if it actually worked or--

The air is suddenly strangely sweet , tinged with a chemical odor. Ben freezes, not sure what it means, but he’s sure the other presence can tell he’s terrified.

_ Help? What’s wrong?  _  comes the faint query, even as Ben’s senses start to fade.

All he can manage is a panicked slew of emotions,  _ Danger, wrong, bad, help! _

\--

Ben wakes strapped to an uncomfortably cold metal rack that holds him rigidly upright. His arms are pinned down at his wrists and elbows, his legs at  ankles and knees. Even his forehead is strapped back against the rack.

A masked man looms into view across from him, dressed in all black. He’d be intimidating, if Ben wasn’t too busy being confused as to why everything about him felt familiar.

When he “You’re communicating with our other prisoner,” the masked men says, voice distorted and almost mechanical.

Ben doesn’t answer.

“You know the Force?”

Ben nods as much as he can.

“Who are you?”

When he tries to speak, his own voice feels rough and raw, and he realizes he doesn’t know how long it’s been since he last spoke. “I don’t know.”

“What’s your name?”

“Ben,” he says, without consciously meaning to say it. It still feels right, and saying it out loud cements its rightness to him.

The masked man pauses for a moment and Ben can sense a deep uneasiness in him.

“Where are you from? How did you wind up on Endor?”

“Endor--?”

“That’s where you were found. You were at the center of a disturbance in the Force greater than any in recent memory. I felt it halfway across the galaxy, but you’re telling me you have no memory of what you did or that you were ever there?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ben says. “All I can remember is that damn box you tossed me in.”

“Who  _ are _ you?” 

“Who are you?” Ben snaps back.

The man in the black mask keeps looking at him, and Ben tries to picture the face underneath. It’s familiar, somehow.

“Kylo Ren,” he says finally. “Now, again, who are  _ you _ ?”

He doesn’t have anything to add to answer the question, so he says nothing out of sheer defiance. The name doesn’t sound familiar, but he feels like it should be.

“This could go a lot easier for you, you know.”

Ben clenches his jaw and keeps silent. Kylo Ren raises a hand and Ben stares at it, unimpressed.

A split-second later, Ben’s head might as well be collapsing in. It feels like his brain is being compacted on all sides, the pressure  intensifying with every breath, every blink. Pushing down, closing in, ripping at his mind and--

_ Jacen and Jaina spar off in an open area of the temple, surrounded by a gaggle of young Jedi. Ben knows his older cousins must be annoyed by their practice being turned into a show, but they were also the ones who chose such a public space for it. And it’s rare to see them both at the temple together, given how often they’re called away. _

_ Jaina gains the upper hand, pushing Jacen back with each swing of lightsaber, calculated and careful. Jacen force-pushes her back a few feet. She almost topples over, but she manages to regain her footing and throws herself forward at Jacen. _

_ He’s prepared for a dead-on attack, but Jaina twists away last minute and sails around him, throwing Jacen off balance enough for her to dance around and trip him up from behind. He goes down hard and Jaina holds her blade over him triumphantly. The small crowd erupts into a roar. _

_ Jaina powers down her lightsaber, returning it to her belt with a wry grin. She offers Jacen her hand and helps him back. Ben rushes over to Jacen. He babbles something about how amazing the battle had been, how well Jacen had done. Jacen gives him the smallest of smiles, ruffling his hair as he walks past. _

_ Ben stares after for a moment, then suddenly feels that he  _ needs _ to talk to him. He can’t quite remember why, but it’s urgent and important. _

“Jacen!” Ben shouts. But he’s back in the interrogation room, not at the temple. Where Jacen stood a moment before, Kylo Ren now stands, watching him.

“Jacen? Is that who that was?”

Ben closes his eyes and for a moment he can see Jacen’s face instead of Ren’s. It’s a good moment, interrupted by more questions.

“There were never that many Jedi in the time you’ve been alive. How do you have this memory?”

_ Jedi? _ That sounds right too. “I am a Jedi.”

“That’s not possible.”

“But I am,” Ben says, certain now.

“They’re all dead, I killed them myself.”

“I’d like to see you _ try _ to kill Jaina,” Ben says automatically.

“Jaina?”

“Solo.”

Ben swears he can see a look of alarm through Ren’s mask.

“I’ve killed the Solos too,” Ren says. “Han Solo. And Ben.”

“Ben… Solo?” Ben shakes his head. “That’s not right. I’m not-- I’m--”

He searches for the name. Stardancer, Sunrunner, something…

“I’m not that,” he says finally.

“Of course you’re not,” Kylo Ren says dismissively. “Where are these Jedi in your memories? What planet are they on?”

“I don’t know,” Ben says. He can feel Ren’s grip on his mind start to return and he panics. “I don’t know!”

Ren frowns at him, then steps back, raising a hand. The restraints snap off Ben’s wrists instantly. Two white-armored guards enter the room.

“Take him to my guest quarters. See that he’s comfortable.”

The guards grab him roughly and drag him off the rack. Ben barely has the time to give Kylo a second look before they’re pushing him out the door.

The station is stark grey metals and Ben doesn’t know what to make of it. He tries to reach out to his friend, to convey his confusion as to what exactly is happening. But there’s silence on the other end.

The two guards escort him to a nondescript door that, when opened, leads into a too-comfortable-for-a-prisoner suite. There’s a bed, the door to what looks to be a ‘fresher, and even a holopad. Ben can hardly believe it.

The door slides shut behind him and he doesn’t bother trying to open it again. Instead he sinks down onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying to make sense out of the mess of half-memories and familiar sensations.

Concern that isn’t his own abruptly bursts into his mind. His friend has been waiting.

It takes Ben a moment to collect himself, then tries to show the other presence an image of Ren.

Judging by his friend’s reaction (overwhelming anger, with the slightest tinge of fear), he knows Ren.

_ What about you? _ Ben tries to ask.  _ Who are you? _

There’s a pause.

Then light floods Ben’s vision, chaotic and unstable. Emotions and images flash in his mind--   _ painfearlovehopeangercourage. _ White armor, sand, a jacket, a girl, a ship, an old man, a vivid red blade slashing down--

Ben jolts back to his own mind, gasping.

There’s no name attached to the story, and the story itself is jumbled and confusing. But Ben knows this other person now. At least in emotions and images and a general sense of who he is. So  _ Hero _ will have to do for names.


	2. Memory

Ben’s left to his own devices for days. How many, it’s hard to tell. There’s no clock and Ben can’t muster up the patience to count the seconds as they tick by, just to see how long he’s been there.The holopad left in the room for him refuses to turn on. The isolation would be maddening if it weren’t for Hero, and even then, the lack of physical contact with another being feels wrong. Ben can’t remember the last time he touched someone. He’s sure it hasn’t been that long, but his memory is so patchy and what he does remember doesn’t feel recent.

Hero tries to help with memories, gently nudging Ben’s mind every so often, trying to prompt a new memory or vision. It hasn’t worked so far, but Ben’s grateful for the company anyway.

It’s a strange friendship, one Ben longs to evolve beyond two prisoners commiserating together and into two escapees finding their way to freedom. Hero seems confident people will be looking for him, but Ben wants to act before it’s too late and Ren decides to get rid of one or both of them.

Ben sits cross-legged on his bed, closing his eyes and working on recalling another memory of his mother. She’s all he’s got that’s solid, and the more he thinks about it, the more he’s certain he hasn’t seen her in a long, long time, even before all of this.

He misses her.

The door hisses open, but Ben keeps his eyes closed, still trying to hang on to the memory of Mara. He knows Kylo Ren is now standing in front of him. As soon as he entered the room, Ben could feel darkness and anger, like a swarm of Thunian war-hornets.

“Are your memories returning?”

Ben lets out an exaggerated sigh and lifts his heads, opening his eyes. Ren’s not wearing a mask, and it almost catches him off-guard. The face underneath the mask isn’t what he expected, though he’s not sure what he expected. “If you hadn’t interrupted my meditation, maybe.”

“You were seeing something.”

Ben considers, shifting so he sits up on his knees and his height is a little closer to Ren’s. “My mother,” he says finally.

“And who is your mother?”

“Still working on that part,” Ben says.

“Perhaps I could help. I could give you access to our archives, our history. Something there might jog your memory.”

“So you realized you can’t torture it out of me.”

Ren shakes his head. “Not at all. Merely considering it as an alternative.”

He extends his hand toward Ben.

Ben barely has time to react before he feels claws digging into his mind. His body seizes and he feels himself falling to his side. Memories slam into view, bouncing off the edges of his mind. Jacen. Mara. Blue lightsaber. Red lightsaber. Explosions rocking the ship he’s aboard. Strange tendrils wrapping around him, sending pain to every part of his body all at once.

Nothing stays. They’re too vivid and flooding in too quickly for him to make any sense of it. There’s no context, just flashes.

A figure looms into his line of sight and Ben almost thinks it’s Ren for a moment. But then it isn’t.

Yellow eyes flash with ruthlessness, coldness.

_ “Jacen.” _

“Who?”

Ben’s eyes fill with tears, half from pain, half from overwhelming helplessness. “You’re dead. You’re dead, you can’t be here!”

“I’m don’t-- Who are you seeing right now?”

Ben stares. His nerves are shot and he can’t stop his hands from shaking. Jacen grabs both of his wrists, tight enough to make Ben wince, trying to force them still. The touch  _ burns _ , and Ben cries out, trying to pull away. The grip doesn’t let up.

“Who do you think I am?”

“Jacen!” Ben shouts, almost blinded by the pain now, “Jacen Solo! Let go! Let--  _ Please! _ ”

The hands on Ben’s wrists fall away and the clamps on his mind disappear. Ben’s left shaking, his scattered memories slipping away. A few blurred images remain, and of course the persistent presence of Darth Caedus.

But the room is empty and even Ren has vanished.

\--

Ben doesn’t try meditating again. His mind feels scratched raw and every attempt at using the Force just exacerbates the wound. Hero tries to reach out and Ben recoils, physically stepping away from the invisible touch.

The  _ I’m sorry  _ that follows is from both of them _. _

Ben can’t explain it, is exhausted to the point of collapse and unable to figure out what feelings would best convey what just happened. And he doesn’t want to put a single drop of this pain onto Hero. He has enough of his own to deal with, he doesn’t need Ben adding to it.

Without meditation, there’s not much left for him to do. He picks the holopad up from the corner of the room he’d thrown it after realizing it didn’t work, just for the hell of it.

This time, it lights up the second he touches it. He fiddles with it for a few minutes, he realizes the holonet access is limited, but there are certain things he can look up. History is one of them.

That gives him more than enough. Within moments he’s curled up on the bed, pouring over histories and records of the galaxy and of any systems that sound familiar. Some of it rings true, but some of it… most of it after the Empire’s destruction doesn’t feel right. The First Order, painted in a heroic fashion that he’s sure is terribly biased, shouldn’t exist.

He’s halfway through an article on the establishment of the New Republic’s electoral system when the door opens and Kylo Ren enters. Ben sets aside his holopad, reluctantly.

“What do you want?” he asks.

“You said Solo.”

“What?”

“When I was inside your mind, I asked you who you were seeing. You said Solo.”

“I was having my head split open, you really think I remember any of that anymore?”

“Do you remember what you saw?”

“No,” A lie, and not one Ben really wants to die for. “Yes. Just someone with yellow eyes and… I must’ve known him, once, but I can’t remember where.”

“Who are your parents?”

That he can answer, at least partially. Though he’s not sure why it would matter to Ren or how it connects to this Solo guy.

“Mara. And…” Ben searches for a name,exhausted though his mind is. There’s fragments still lingering and he can almost picture a face. But there’s no name, no--

_ “Luke?” _

_ It’s his mother’s voice, full of fondness as she says the name. _

_ “Ben’s  sleeping. Finally. I’m still not sure how someone so small can spend so much time awake. I can’t even imagine what he’ll be like as a teenager.” _

_ (He is not, in fact, sleeping, but he’s pretending since it seems to make her happy.) _

_ “Are you alright?” _

_ (Despite the door between them, he can feel his father’s safe and reassuring presence.) _

_ “I was just meditating,” Luke says. “Something’s wrong. Can you feel it?” _

_ (A pause.) _

_ “The Force is really going all-out with the details,” Mara says. “Couldn’t it just settle for a round of 20 questions instead of vague ominous threats to our very existence?” _

_ Luke laughs. “It doesn’t work that way.” _

_ “Oh, I know. But I don’t know what this is. It feels… broken.” _

_ “That’s what I felt as well.” _

_ “So what is it?” _

_ “I don’t know.” _

“Luke Skywalker?”

Ben’s eyes snap open. Ren’s face is a mix of disbelief and horror.

“That’s your father?”

“I don’t know. That’s just… a memory. It might not even be mine, for all I know.”

“That’s not possible. None of this is possible. There’s something  _ wrong _ with you.”

“What the kriffing hell did you think before now?” Ben snaps. “I’ve had a botched memory ever since I arrived here and you’ve done nothing but try to torture it back into existence. Who are you? Some First Order attack dog? Who’s in charge?”

“I am.”

Ben laughs.

“I  _ am _ ,” Ren hisses.

“Men like you are never in charge. There’s always someone holding your leash. Who is it? Why do they care so much about me and my memories? That Force disturbance could’ve been anything, how do you know it was me? Maybe it was a really pissed off Ewok.”

“It was you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re strong in the Force in a way that the galaxy doesn’t often see. And now, with these memories of yours… What’s in your head isn’t real. I know Luke. That woman you see? Your mother? She doesn’t exist.”

“You don’t know that.”

“She  _ can’t _ exist.”

“Well she does.”

Ren shakes his head. “There has to be a reason for this. These mismatched memories could unlock something about the Force itself . We have to continue.”

“We?” Ben snorts. “There’s no ‘we.’ There’s just you trying to pry your way into parts of my mind I’m not sure exist”

“I’ve been successful at retrieving some memories every time I’ve tried. I see no reason to stop now.”

“Because it’s my mind!” The holopad flies across the room toward Ren’s head, without Ben touching it, or even meaning for it to happen. Ren manages to sidestep it, but it’s satisfying, even as the holopad cracks against the wall behind him.

The feeling disappears as Ren advances on him, hand raised. Ben tries to throw up a mental barrier, but it shatters at the slightest prodding from Ren. He’s too weak to fight back and he knows it. All he can do is brace himself as the claws rip into his mind.


	3. Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet y'all thought I was never going to update, huh? Surprise! I'm back!  
> I'll probably be editing over the earlier chapters, but there shouldn't be any major changes, outside of a few continuity edits.  
> I've got rough edits done of chapter 4 and a few other snippets of future chapters, so hopefully it won't be a year before I update again. Whoops.

_ “Ben.” _

_ “Dad?” _

_ “It’s going to be okay, son.” _

_ “What do you mean? Dad?” _

_ “Trust in the Force. You… You’ll do fine; it’s in your blood.” _

_ “No, I’m not ready. I can’t do this on my-- Dad! Dad!” _

By the time Ren leaves, Ben lies curled on the floor. Every strung-out nerve in his body screams, overwhelming him, leaving him paralyzed on the ground. He feels like a foreigner in his own mind and body, even the sound of his own sobs feel distant, unreal.

Trickles of memory leak in through his cracked mind. Trips to the Jedi Temple. The nanny droid he spent the first few years of his life with. His parents’ disastrous attempts at family vacations. They feel like bacta against the the raw pain left by Ren. Focusing in or hanging on too tightly to a single memory brings back to the pain, so he lets the details come and go. This is him. This is who he was, before all of this. He’s not sure what it means or how any of it would be useful to Ren, but it feels so important.

Mara. Luke. Jaina. Jacen. Solo. Skywalker. Names that mean something to someone, maybe mean something to him. They’re disconnected from the people in his memories, but they’re there.

_ HELP _

Ben’s eyes snap open, latching onto the momentary distraction.

_ “Help me!” _

He can hear Hero’s voice this time, clear as if they were standing in the same room. Ben reaches out, struggling maintain their link with his wavering connection to the Force.

“What’s wrong?” he hears himself ask aloud.

He hears a scream, so clear and present it seems to bounce off the walls of his own room. He can feel Hero’s pain: sharp, stabbing into his side, so different from the trauma to his own mind. Electricity runs through him. A hand reaches out, ready to break into his mind and--

Ben snaps back from their connection reflexively.

_ Ren. _

Ben’s body and mind still ache, but it dulls compared to the anger flooding through him. Instinct takes over.

He rises, facing the door. The steel tears itself apart and he launches himself through the opening.

The hallways glide past and the white-masked soldiers in his way find themselves thrown back against the walls or slammed against the ceiling. A blaster bolt whizzes toward him and freezes mid air. The officer holding the gun gapes as the bolt slowly reverses direction toward him. Ben’s halfway down the corridor before it finally burns through the officer.

Hero’s distress makes the path to the detention block clear. The closer he gets, the stronger he can feel everything. Parts can be tuned out, but the voices in his head won’t disappear, the emotions that blend with his own are too strong to ignore.

He hears the screams before he’s even entered the cell block and the panic in his gut sets in deeper, twisting anxiety at what he might find.

“You can’t be out here!”

A grey-uniformed officer stands in Ben’s path, raising a blaster.

Ben blinks. The man flies across the room, shot firing off into the ceiling.

Ben sprints into the cellblock. He finds the door to Hero’s cell and it opens without him so much as raising a finger.

He takes a step inside, hand raised, ready to tear apart anything not-Hero in the room.

Kylo Ren waits for him, holding up a badly beaten man that Ben instantly recognizes. The hilt of Ren’s lightsaber presses against Hero’s chest and Ren’s thumb hovers over the switch 

“Let him go.” The steel edges of the door curl back under the pressure of Ben’s rage.

“You’re running on instinct, but that won’t get you far. You can clear a hallway --that’s impressive, I won’t deny that-- but you can’t stop a whole army, and you can’t stop me.”

“If you can kill him, do it,”  _ Hero _ . Somehow, he’s exactly like how Ben imagined. Even after the hell Kylo put him through, he might as well be straight out of a holofilm.

“You’re  _ exhausted,” _ Kylo intones. “You know you can’t win this. Stand down.”

With Ren’s words, Ben feels the weight of his sprint settle over him. The Force sustained him until now, but the damage to his mind and the amount of energy he’d used clear his path hits hard.

“You take him out,” Hero grits out. “Hey, Boy Wonder, if you got a chance--”

The ship jolts around them.

Ben’s knocked off his feet and Hero slips out of Kylo’s grip, tumbling to the floor beside Ben and grunting in pain. Kylo remains standing and strides out of the cell, waving his hand and latching the door behind him.

“Dammit!” Ben’s stomach sinks as he knows he’s too exhausted to try breaking it down again.

Hero doesn’t seem bothered by the change in events, actually beaming. He pulls himself into a sitting position, leaning against the cell wall. “ _ She found me _ .”

“Who?”

“The-- Nevermind. We’re getting out of here,” he staggers to his feet, favoring his left leg. “I’m Finn, by the way.” He offers a hand up.

“Ben.”

Finn hesitates, his hand pulling back just a fraction,  “ _ Ben _ ?”

“That’s my name. I think. It’s been a bad couple of days.”

Finn pulls Ben to his feet. “You’re telling me.”

“So that,” Ben gestures up to the rocking ship, “is friends of yours?”

“I thought they thought I was dead,” Finn says. “I should’ve been.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story, but I lost a fight with Kylo Ren. Passed out on Starkiller base, woke up in a cell here.”

“Why didn’t he just kill you?”

“Why didn’t he kill  _ you _ ?” Finn counters, but he doesn’t wait for Ben to answer. “It’s a long story, like I said. We get out of here and I’ll tell you the whole thing. I’m guessing you have no idea how you got here?”

“None,” Ben shakes his head. “Apparently I was found on Endor at the center of a galaxy-wide Force disturbance, but I have no idea. I woke up on here, everything before that is vague at best. Something did a number on my head, because I don’t remember  _ any _ of this. It’s like someone--”

All at once, Ben  _ feels _ someone. Like Finn, but stronger somehow.

“Rey’s here,” Finn says. “I can--”

“Feel her,” Ben finishes. “Me too.”

Ben closes his eyes, seeking out the strange, new presence. She radiates warmth, much like Finn. But where Finn is the slowly burning warmth of a campfire, Rey is the brightness of a sunny day, beautiful and harsh at the same time.

She runs down the same hallways he had, and a man he recognizes from Finn’s memories follows a few steps behind with blaster in hand.

“You can see her?”

Ben’s eyes snap open. “She’s close. Someone’s with her.”

“Poe,” Finns says. “How do you know that?”

“How did I talk to you before I met you? It’s just the Force. Maybe when two Force-sensitive people are close enough together, they can--”

“No,” Finn shakes his head. “Rey and I can’t do that. Whatever you’re doing is something totally different. And  _ weird _ .”

“She’s here,” Ben says, looking up toward the door. Metal starts to melt in a circle around the door and finally a blue light pokes through. The steel circle clatters to the floor.

Through the opening, a voice calls out, “Finn?”

Rey steps through the doorway, peering into the cell.

“Rey!” Finn throws himself into her arms.

The man with Rey steps through the opening behind her. Poe locks eyes with Finn and the moment Finn steps back from Rey, the two men catch each other in an embrace.

“You need to stop disappearing on me,” Poe says, a strained relief in his voice. “That’s twice now.”

Finn pulls back enough to look Poe in the eyes, then leans in and kisses him.

Ben quickly looks away, flushing, and finds himself making eye-contact with a similarly flushed Rey. Her lips are quirked up; as much as she seems to share Ben’s awkward-embarrassment, she’s clearly fond of both of them.

“Who’s your friend?” Rey asks. Finn and Poe break apart and Finn turns to Ben, grinning.

“I’m Ben,” he says and gets the same moment of hesitation from her as from Finn.

“He saved my life,” Finn says. “Strong as hell in the Force, if you didn’t figure that part out yet.”

“I felt him as soon as I got onboard,” Rey says. “I don’t understand how I did that. I’ve never met you before. Even with Finn, our connection was emotion-based, at best. But I could  _ see  _ you.”

“I have no idea,” Ben shrugs helplessly. “All I have is a kriffed up memory.”

Rey nods. “We should go.”

“I like that plan,” Poe agrees. “I don’t want to be on this ship for a moment longer than we have to.”

He hands Finn a blaster. Rey unlatches the pistol at her hip and tosses it to Ben.

“Let’s go,” Poe says.

“Where are we going to, exactly?” Finn asks as they start down the hallway.

“Hangar,” Poe says. “Snap and Jess will meet us there and escort us out once we hijack a ship.”

“Sounds like our first date,” Finn grins.

“Hopefully with less getting shot,” Poe nudges into him as they walk.

The two rogue ships flying around have clearly caused enough of a stir that most of the crew is running after them. Or at least, the ones that hadn’t already been dispatched by Ben’s march to the detention center and Rey and Poe’s subsequent arrival.

Rey guides them in the direction of the hangar, and between her, Ben, and Finn, they avoid most of the troops swarming around. It’s a clear enough path and Ben is relieved. He’s not sure he’s ready for another fight.

“It’s been ages since I’ve run a squad from the ground,” Poe rubs at the earpiece in his left ear as they walk. “I didn’t miss it.”

“Are they okay?” Finn asks.

“Yeah, I think-- Shit!” Poe stops dead, listening in on his comm. “Jess? Jess, are you okay?”

Poe scans the hall ahead and spots a viewport. He bolts off toward it, leaving the other three to chase after him.

Poe skids to a stop in front of the window, staring out at the laser-lit black for their allies.

“Jess, you good?”

Ben hears a faint crackling from the earpiece, but he can’t make out words.

“Is Snap hit too or just you?”

“We have to keep moving,” Rey says, tugging on Poe’s arm.

He waves her off, transfixed by the scene outside. The two X-Wings glide in and out around the TIE-Fighters, more antagonizing than attacking. One X-Wing limps slightly, struggling to keep up and smoking from the left engine.

“Call it off,” Poe says. “We don’t need the escort and neither of you are worth losing over this.”

There’s a response that Ben can’t hear.

“Jess, I don’t care. That was too close. We can take are of ourselves, you’ve done more than enough already.”

Another crackle.

“That’s an  _ order,  _ Pava. Snap, tell her--” Poe scowls at the ships outside as he listens to the response. Then his face softens. “Okay. Good. Tell Leia where we are, but we’ll try to find our way back. It’s just the four of us, nothing worth launching some dumbass rescue mission over. Not another one, at least.”

The X-Wings weave around the TIEs and away from the ship before they blip out into lightspeed.

Poe pulls off his comm and pockets it. “We’re on our own.”

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure what I'm doing 100%, but I have some ideas. More EU characters will be popping up once Ben and Hero (Hmmm whoever could that be) make their daring escape.
> 
> Also in desperate need of a beta, so if you'd be interested, hmu. You're also a hero.


End file.
